Bonds that Heal the Wound
by Halez613
Summary: Halona has been heartbroken since Kenai decided to leave the village to live with the bears. Depressed, scared, and feeling like she's alone, what's left to do other than bringing her back to the one person she loved the most?
1. Chapter 1

In the early morning of a late fall day, blue eyes scan the horizon of a living wilderness. Birds fly through the sky, their calls to each other are distant from the cliffside that a young Inuit girl is currently sitting at. Her deerskin covered legs swing off the edge as she enjoys the cool breeze that passes through the locks of her dark brown hair. Coming to this cliffside at the early hour is a daily routine for her. It allows her to feel at peace before her day starts and the heavy weight of her stress and sorrow consumes her. How can one not be at peace with this beauty? The sun is just rising. Oranges and yellows paint the east and a light fog sits upon the woods beneath the cliff. The leaves the trees are consumed by their own shades of reds, oranges, and yellows as they prepare to fall in the coming month.

"Halona! There you are!" the girl turns her head at the call of her name. Another girl approaches her, wearing similar deer-skin clothing. Hers are gray in color, unlike the brown ones that Halona is wearing. Around her neck is a stone carving of a deer. It's oval-shaped, minus the detail taken to create the face and front hooves of the animal. This is her totem, representing that, to be considered a true woman of the tribe, she must be guided by peace and compassion.

She's out of breath from running up the hillside to meet her friend at the cliff.

"Tanana's been looking for you. Are you ready for your ceremony?" the girl asks.

"As I'll ever be, Mai," Halona sighs. Mai frowns, her gray eyes piercing into her friend.

"Look, I know you wanted Kenai here for your big day, but he's gone. He's off living his life. For whatever it's worth, though, I think he'd be proud and happy for you," Mai walks over and places a hand on Halona's shoulder, her black, tied up hair swaying softly in the breeze.

"I…just didn't think that he wouldn't be here for this. We told each other when we were kids that we'd support each other for the coming of age ceremony. I was there for him, but he won't be here for me," Halona turns away, her once peaceful eyes become dark and fill with sadness as she stares back out at the horizon.

"I know, but you at least have me and Denahi still. And Sitka is watching over you, probably ecstatic to see your reaction to the totem that he and the other spirits have chosen for you," Halona looks up to Mai at the mentioning of Sitka. It's been months since his passing, but she still can't help but to wince at the thought of him no longer being here.

Mai holds a hand out to Halona, "C'mon, we got stuff to do before the big moment." In the village, it's tradition that the member of the tribe that's receiving their totem collects the fish and wood for the ceremony. Since it's such a large task, Halona had asked Mai ahead of time to help her collect everything. Of course, Mai accepted the request.

"Whatever totem you get, though, I'm here for you. I'm no Kenai, but I'm still your best friend."

Halona smiles, taking Mai's tanned-skinned hand and pulls herself to her feet. Still, holding onto her hand, Mai pulls her into a hug and whispers to her, "It's going to be okay."

After the two girls make their way down the hill, they work together to gather branches and sticks from the forest for the large bonfire that's lit during the ceremony. After the sticks are gathered and tied into bunches to carry onto their backs, they make their way to the nearby stream. The stream is a halfway point between where Halona was sitting and the village. It's gorgeous clearing with crystal clear water and shrubbery planted in just the right places.

"Halona catch!" Mai calls out, tossing her one end of the large piece of cloth that's used to catch fish in groups rather than taking the time to fish for them individually with a spear. They dip down, the cloth submerging into the clear waters. It only takes a few moments until a school of salmon makes their way over the cloth. The two pull up in unison, dozens of fish taken out of the water by the cloth. They flop around, gasping for air. A few fall off the cloth and back into the water, but most stay in place. They bring the cloth a few feet from the stream and place it on the ground, waiting a few minutes for the fish to take their last breaths. Once the last fish stops moving, the girls work together to place them in the basket that Denahi had made for them to transfer the fish to the village.

"Better hope a bear doesn't get to this basket this time," Mai jokes, "Not only will Denahi be furious, but the last thing we need is someone else getting turned into a bear."

Halona sends Mai sharp glare, "Not funny."

Mai throws her hands up in defense and chuckles lightly, "Sorry! Sorry! Just trying to be funny."

Once every fish has been placed into the basket, Halona takes it into her arms. It's a bit heavy, but it's nothing that she hasn't lifted before.

"Sweet! Now let's get going. We don't want to be late for the ceremony!" Mai swiftly turns in the direction of the village and starts walking.

"Try not to get too far, okay? This isn't exactly the easiest thing to carry!" Halona calls out with a light laugh.

"You know your way. You'll be fine," Mai calls back, her hand waving in a 'no big deal' manner. Halona sighs and rolls her eyes before continuing the walk back towards the village.

It's late morning, almost noon by the time the girls arrive at their village. Children run about, tackling and playing with each other. The older village members are preparing their own sets of chores in preparation for Halona's ceremony. Some are cleaning up, removing some of the fallen leaves from the major walkways. Others are gathering paints and stones to take to the ceremony site located at the top of the hill next to the huts. It's a stone platform and is where all ceremonies are held, whether they be village meetings or even the coming of age ceremony.

At the site of the children, the corners of Halona's eyes crinkle up as a smile forms on her face. Her cheeks dusted with a light blush as she giggles at the children. She's always had a soft spot for children. Seeing the children play remind her of when she was younger, and she and Kenai played together. Those were the happy and innocent days when everyone she cared about was alive and she had nothing to worry about.

The memory of her childhood pains her heart a bit. It's a reminder that those days are gone and so are most of the people she held dear.

"Halona, hey. Snap out of it!"

"Huh?" Halona breaks out of her moment of thought to see Mai attempting to grab her attention, gray eyes speaking volumes of concern.

"Getting lost in the past again?"

"Yeah. I really need to stop doing that," Halona sighs, shaking her head slightly.

"I'd recommend it. You're going to end up getting gray hairs and wrinkles before the ceremony even starts," Mai teases.

Halona laughs, "Hey that's not even funny!"

Mai shrugs and lets out her own laugh, "I thought it was funny."

Halona rolls her eyes and readjusts the basket of fish in her arms, "Let's get all of this put away. The ceremony will start soon." Mai nods in response and follows Haley towards a singular tree that lay a few meters from the forest surrounding the village. Mai pulls a thick rope from her bag and waits for Halona to find the perfect spot to place the basket of fish. After a few moments, Halona finds the perfect spot on a thick branch that's a few sets of branches from the ground. The branch is sturdy and high enough that a bear won't be able to grab it without using a good bit of effort. Mai takes the rope, tying it tightly against the tree so that the basket doesn't lose balance and fall.

"Perfect! Now let's take these sticks and branches to Tanana so we can get your ceremony started!" Mai cheers. Halona lets out a small chuckle as Mai makes her way to the stone platform atop the hill. Halona allows Mai to walk ahead a few meters before giving up on her chuckling. The happy mask she had placed upon her face falls and she looks up into the sky.

"Sitka, please let things turn out okay. Please, I beg you," Halona mutters into the wind, hoping that his spirit can hear her. A loud screech of an eagle tears her attention from the clouds and towards a flying eagle, circling around the village from the sky. Halona smiles lightly.

"Thank you, Sitka," she whispers before jogging to catch up with Mai.


	2. Chapter 2

When Halona and Mai reach the top of the hill, Halona takes note of all the people setting up the main stage for the ceremony. Two men are working together to paint a mountain on the stone wall. This mountain that they are painting is of great importance to the tribe. They refer to it as "The Mountain where the Lights Touch the Earth." It's a long name, yes, but it also describes it perfectly. This mountain is where the spirits of people's ancestors come down from the heavens. The sight of the lights represents hope and guidance, the people knowing that their ancestors are watching over them.

This painting is placed center of a great skew of red handprints that cover most of the wall. The handprints belong to those that have reached manhood or womanhood. Once a member has proven that they have followed their totem, their handprint is place upon the wall.

Halona glances down at her hands. One day, her handprint will be on there. She's excited to see what the world will have in store for her, but at the same time, she knows that Kenai and Sitka will not be part of the world that she will become a woman in.

"Halona! There you are, sis!" Halona snaps out of her train of thought to see a man wearing blue deerskin clothing walk towards her, arms spread out to give her a hug. He grabs her and ruffles her hair. What was once kept and neat now has fly-aways.

"Think you can wait until I put these sticks down, Denahi? My back is killing me!" Denahi backs up by a foot, allowing Halona to slip the bundle of sticks tied to her shoulders off. She places her hands in the center of her back, cracks it and sighs.

"Better now?" Denahi smiles.

"Good," he then forcefully grabs her with a smile and continues ruffling her hair, "Ready to finally become a woman, sis?"

Halona laughs and tries pushing the older man off her. Although Denahi refers to her as sister, or sis, the two are in fact not related by blood. When Halona was just a toddler, she had been found in the woods by Tanana. She was on her way to retrieve a totem for a soon-to-be woman at the time and came across her. Halona was alone, wrapped in nothing more but a few pieces of cloth. She babbled and squealed at Tanana, almost begging the woman to take her into her arms. Tanana saw this is a sign from the spirits and indeed took the girl in her arms. With the girl in arm, Tanana made her way to the mountain top where the spirits took a small stone and transformed it into an elk. Tanana wrapped it in a small cloth and placed it in the pocket of her shaman cloak. Before she could leave, the lights of the spirits wrapped around her. As a shaman, Tanana can communicate with the spirits in a way that the other village members cannot. They told her that the child should be placed in care of the three brothers Sitka, Denahi, and Kenai. They gave no reason to Tanana as to why those three brothers specifically, but she has never been in any place to doubt the Great Spirits.

When Tanana arrived back at the village that afternoon, her first stop was to see the three brothers. Sitka was more than happy to take the young girl, a smile on his face the moment she was placed into his young arms. Sitka was only about 16 at the time, but he had proven he was more than capable of raising her as he had already raised the other two brothers for most of their lives. Denahi was around 8 and he was a little unhappy at first feeling even more as a middle child than he already was, but soon grew to love as if she were his sister by blood. Kenai was probably the most thrilled considering that he would no longer be considered the true youngest child. Kenai was about 4 at this point, approximately a year old her than Halona. Kenai took her under his wing and the two were inseparable. The brothers were Halona's whole world and up until a few months ago, she had no idea what she would do without them.

"As ready as I'll ever be dog breath," Halona punches Denahi's arm, causing him to step back a little bit, laughing as he rubs his sore arm.

Denahi lets out his last breathy laugh before becoming a bit more serious, his smile becoming a bit more tight lipped and eyes softening as he looks Halona in the eyes, "I know you wanted Sitka and Kenai here for this, but I know that they're both ecstatic for you, even if they're not here to say it in person."

Halona frowns a bit, cursing Denahi mentally for bringing up her two brothers. They've been brought up once already, she'd much prefer the thought of them not being here to stay away from her thoughts.

"I know. It just hurts, you know? Everyone was here for Sitka's totem, yours, and even Kenai. But for me? Everyone's either dead or not even human," Halona rubs her eyes, trying her best to not let the tears she had tried to force from coming fall.

Denahi wraps his arms around her, nuzzles his nose into her hair, "I know it sucks, kid. But things will get better. Things will be okay, I promise."

Halona sniffs and smiles a bit, her words cracking as she speaks, "Funny, that's what Mai told me earlier."

Suddenly a yell is heard from the bottom of the hill, "Tanana's back! C'mon!"

Denahi parts from Halona and bends down to grab the bushel of sticks. He smiles once more and says, "Let's get these sticks set up for the fire. You'll see. Once you get that totem, everything will be fine."

Denahi and Halona work together to place all the large sticks and branches inside of the stone of circles placed in the center of the stone floor. They're paced teepee style. As per tradition, a large set of antlers, probably from a giant elk, is placed at the very top of the teepee for decoration. Once everything is set into place, Denahi and Halona find their placed among the first row of villagers who have already sat down, waiting for the arrival of Tanana.

"Ooh good! I didn't miss anything!" Halona jumps as Mai plops herself down next her.

"Do you really have to scare me like that?"

"Not my fault you're jumpy," Mai shrugs. She receives an eyeroll from Halona in response.

A series of hushes are spread across the platform as all eyes are sent to the entrance. An older woman with a fur cloak and long white hair placed into two braids, one on each side of her face, walks towards the stack of yet to be lit wood. This is the shaman woman Tanana.

Tanana pauses for a moment for one of the village men to hand her a lit torch. Every face in the room is lit up with a large smile as they watch her walk past them. With the torch in hand, she pulls her arm back and tosses it fervently, yet gently into the teepee stacked sticks. The teepee lights up in a roar of flames, causing the room to erupt into their own roars of cheering.

"Welcome, my friends. As we all know, when one of us comes of age, the spirits bring us a totem that represent what we must do in order to become a man," Tanana teasingly pats Denahi on his head as she walks about the room, giving her speech, "or a woman." Mai's hair is then ruffled by Tanana. Both Mai and Denahi give the shaman woman a friendly smile as they chuckle softly.

"Halona," Tanana calls out her name and sits in front of the fire, being cautious enough to keep a good distance as not bring harm to herself. Halona stands up timidly and walks over. She carefully sits down and let's out a worrisome sigh.

"Nervous?" Tanana asks. Halona is met with a quick sense of déjà vu from that question. She responds with, "Just a little."

"Don't be. It's a good one!" There's that déjà vu again.

"Halona, I have been to the mountain where the lights touch the Earth, and the spirits have revealed to me your totem," Tanana's words are warm and full of hidden excitement. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out the totem, wrapped in a small cloth, the animal carved in it hidden underneath the cloth.

"Your totem is," everything moves in slow motion for Halona as Tanana carefully pulls back the top layer of cloth that's hiding the carving in the totem.

The excitement in the room dies before Tanana can even say what the totem is. The second Tanana pulls back the cloth, Halona feels her heart stop. Denahi and Mai have the same feeling in both of their chests.

"Love!"


	3. Chapter 3

Halona stares at the totem, hands shaking slightly as she takes it into her hand. The all too familiar carving of the bear causes her to swallow thickly and glance towards Denahi and Mai. Her eyes are screaming for help, not sure what to do or how to react.

"Halona," Tanana strokes the side of Halona's face gently, bringing her face back towards her direction. "I know it's not what you were expecting, but the spirits know what they're doing. They know you. Let love guide your actions and one day, you'll be a woman and will place your mark upon those of our ancestors."

Tanana's hand motions over to the wall with the handprints and Halona's eyes follow suit. Halona forces a smile as Tanana pulls her into a congratulating hug. Halona can't help but to look into the distance, praying that the spirits know what they're doing.

After the ceremony had wrapped up, Halona had quickly escaped, making her way back towards her cliff. She needs to be alone right now to collect her thoughts.

"Halona!" Halona's attention is caught by the voices of Denahi and Mai calling out to her. She turns around, little to no emotion in her face.

"Oh, kid," Denahi sighs, pulling Halona into a hug. He strokes her hair softly. "I know this is hard, but Tanana's right. The spirits know what they're doing. Just…just follow your totem. Things will work out-"

"Follow my totem? Who's left to love? Everyone I loved is gone!" at this point, Halona has pushed Denahi away, tears stinging her blue eyes.

Denahi's mouth opens lightly to say something but shuts it and looks away. He's hurt by her words, there's no doubting that. Everyone she loved is gone? What about him? He's right here.

Halona sighs, and looks down to the ground. She rubs her eyes, freeing them of the tears that had blurred her vision, "Denahi…I didn't mean that-"

"I get it. Kenai and Sitka are gone. I miss them too, but you need to understand that there are still people around you that love you!" Denahi's voice becomes louder, the pain from Halona's words taking over as he speaks, "I love you! Mai loves you! You're stubborn and hard headed but we love you for that. But if you're not happy here…then maybe you should go find Kenai and live with him."

Halona can feel her heart breaking. She was upset and angry, but this isn't what she meant!

"Denahi, I-"

Denahi pushes her hand away, "I need some space." Denahi walks away, the storm clouds covering his heart are practically visible to Mai and Halona.

"Halona, you really hurt him. I don't blame him for being angry," Mai says softly.

"Then why don't you go after him? After all, I'm not the one in love with him," Halona spats. Mai is taken aback by her words.

"You know, maybe you do need some love in your heart. If you had it already, you wouldn't be acting like this," Mai's gray eyes burn with disappointment before she runs off to catch up with Denahi.

Halona watches Denahi and Mai's forms grow smaller as they move farther into the distance. Once they're out of sight, she pinches the bridge of her nose, mentally kicking herself for acting so selfish towards them. She just needs some space to cool off and then she'll apologize and talk things over with them. They both mean the world to her, even though her outburst seemed otherwise, and she doesn't want to lose more family than she already has.

Halona turns onto her heel and starts walking farther away from the village towards her cliffside spot.

It's midafternoon by the time she reaches the cliffside. The cooling winds blow softly through her wavy hair. Sunlight peeks through the gaps in the leaves of the trees in the woodland behind her. She sits on the edge, allowing her legs to dangle. She removes the totem that was placed upon her neck at the end of the ceremony and stares at the carving.

"Sitka," she mutters, "they say you know what you're doing, but…it almost feels as if you're mocking me. Please, give me some guidance here. I understand why Kenai deserved this totem, but me? Up until you left a few months ago, I was always a lover. I was nice to everyone."

Halona's soft lips tremble a bit as she continues praying to her brother, eyes beginning to get watery. She screams out her last question, tears falling, and clutching her totem in her right fist until the knuckles turn white, "So why do I of all people need more love in my heart? Haven't I loved and suffered enough?"

A snap in the brush behind her causes her to quickly silence herself. She throws her totem back over her head and stands up quickly, turning towards the source of the sound. Blue eyes narrow, eyeing every detail in the landscape in front of her, looking for the culprit of the sound. Right now, she's weaponless. She cautiously looks to the ground and spots a decently sized rock. It won't kill anyone, but it'll at least work as a distraction.

Halona picks up the rock and narrows her eyes as she watches the shrubbery. The sound of bustling that was once soft and distant grows closer. She draws her arm back slowly, preparing to catapult the rock. Just as she's getting ready to throw the rock, a small bear cub tumbles out of the bushes. His eyes are drenched in fear, heavily panting as if he were running for his life.

"He went this way!" Well, maybe he was. The sound of two men make their ways towards Halona and the cub. The cub looks at Halona, their eyes meeting. His eyes are begging her for protection. She swallows thickly before motioning him to get behind her. Suddenly, two men exit the brush and are met face to face with Halona. She recognizes them both as well distinguished hunters for her tribe. The man on the left is tall and well built. His muscles are made visible with the tightness of his shirt's sleeves. He has long dark hair that's tied tightly into a bun on his head. The facial hair on his face is nothing but a shadow, but still makes him look strong and fearsome.

The other one isn't as nice to look at but is just as good a hunter as the other. He's shorter than the first man by only a few inches and has a large, round stomach that protrudes from the bottom of his shirt a bit. He's clean shaven and his hair is short and slightly spiked.

"May I ask what you two are doing so far from the village, Koloku?" Halona asks the taller man, her arms folded across her chest.

"I could ask the same about you, sweets," Koloku smirks. As Halona and Koloku are exchanging words, the larger man notices the bear cub hiding behind Halona's legs.

"There he is!" he points out, grabbing both Halona and Koluku's attentions.

"Step aside, Halona. That little runt stole our catch for tomorrow's breakfast," Koloku spats. Halona gives slight glance to the cub behind her. He cowers more behind her.

"He's a cub! He was a hungry. Surely you could spare a few morsels for him," Halona adjusts herself, creating even more of a barrier between the bear cub and the two men.

"Sorry, but we value ourselves more than some dumb little bear," Halona growls at Koloku's words.

"Are you forgetting that one of our own tribesmen is a bear now? Killing this bear is equal to killing one of our own!" Halona yells, rage beginning to cloud her vision.

"Kenai was no longer a member of our village the second he made the decision to stay a bear."

Halona silently gasps, taken aback by the comment. The rage forming in her eyes disappears in an instant and is replaced with heartbreak. How could he say such a thing?

"Kai, get the cub," Koloku orders his companion. The larger man cracks his knuckles and takes step forward. Before Halona can even get a chance to process a decent plan, she swivels around, grabs the cub, and darts off into the forest.

"Hey! Get back here!" Halona hears Kai order. Halona ignores him and continues to run, her blood pumping in her ears, breathing heavy and loud.

The two men chase after her, their spears clutched tightly in hand. As Halona continues running with the little cub, she whispers for him to tuck and roll before throwing him into the brush. The men obviously don't see play this trick as they both run past the spot in which he was tossed and continue to run after Halona.

Halona glances back and chuckles mischievously at Koloku and Kai, amused by their obliviousness.

"Whoa!" Halona skids to a stop at the edge of a cliff. She's able to throw her body back just enough as to not fall off the edge. She's reached the other side of the cliffside, the edge being just as steep as the one where she had been residing prior.

"Nowhere to run now, huh? Gives us the cub," Kai chuckles darkly.

Halona turns around and shrugs, showing her empty arms and hands, "Sorry, I don't have him."

The two hunters glare at her, eyes darkening with pure resentment. For a moment, Halona believes that she sees evil in their hearts. Does Tanana know that they're not as good of people as everyone thought?

"Tell us where he is!" Koloku shouts, pointing his spear at Halona. Her blue eyes widen, trying to understand if he's truly threatening to kill her.

"Probably long gone by now," Halona seethes, hands raised in defense.

"Gah! These stupid bears! They cause nothing but trouble! They're-"

"Creatures. Innocent creatures," Halona finishes his sentence with her own words, "Yeah, I get it, they can suck sometimes, but they're still living beings. They're just following their instincts to survive just as we are."

"Of course, you would think that," Koloku drops his spear and walks over to Halona. She flinches when comes to stand only a few inches from her, "You're the bear of love, after all. It's written by the Spirits that you'll find a way to love anything regardless of what they do. Now, thanks to Kenai, the entire village thinks that bears are one of us. So, I'll make them realize, once again, that bears are not one of us. Thank you, Halona."

"Wha-" Koloku rips off her totem from its place on her neck and gently shoves her, sending her off the cliff.

She falls.


End file.
